National service was the signature programmatic idea of the New Democrat
movement in the 1980s. By 1992, it had become a key plank in Bill Clinton's
run for the presidency. Today, more than 50,000 people are doing national
service across the country. Even as DLC Chair Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.)
and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a bill to expand national service,
President Bush has joined the bandwagon with his own proposals. Clearly
the time had come, said officials of the DLC, to honor the success of
an idea.
That in mind, the DLC this spring opened the Clinton Center, a project
dedicated to promoting the next generation of New Democrat ideas and leaders.
President Clinton attended the center's inaugural event in April in Washington,
D.C., where he presented the first DLC Clinton Center Awards for Leadership
and National Service to Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and
Chandra Bembery, a project manager at City Year Philadelphia.
"I am honored that the DLC is launching the Clinton Center to keep
New Democrat ideas alive, and to energize the next generation of New Democrat
leaders," said the former president.
During his eight years in office, President Clinton reconnected the nation
to JFK's civic ethic of mutual responsibility when he created the volunteer-based
AmeriCorps, modeled after the City Year program. Townsend applied that
same ethic at the state level when she successfully urged community service
to be a high school graduation requirement in Maryland.
About 200 people attended the Clinton Center's premiere event. In addition
to highlighting innovative policy ideas and leaders, the Clinton Center
also will sponsor leadership training workshops and other programs to
share "best practices" in government, such as Maryland's service
requirement.
"Over the past five years, 200,000 Maryland students have contributed
more than 6 million hours of community service," Townsend said as
she accepted the award: a bronzed American flag mounted on a cherry wood
base, designed by Brooklyn-based artist Matt Freedman. "I believe
that the best type of leadership is providing opportunities for others
to get involved and lead, and that is what we are doing all across Maryland."
Townsend's commitment to national service and the DLC dates back to 1988,
when she traveled with DLC founder and CEO Al From to promote the idea
of a system of voluntary national service. Now, the high school service
program implemented in Maryland is being used nationally as a model --
perhaps most notably by Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), who has incorporated
the program's characteristics into a bill urging similar service requirements
nationwide.
"As much as we savor our past successes, we cannot rest on them,"
From told the audience. "Our movement is still young, and our mission
of modernization can never end."
